Does the U.S. really need a bigger ‘credit card’?

What would you do if you suddenly lost your job, could barely scrape by with paying your mortgage and minimal food supplies? Would you continue to sink yourself deeper and deeper into debt, or would you look at the situation in a proper, responsible manner, cutting out all excess spending until such time as things were in the clear again? Of course, MOST people would say

Hey, I’m going to stop spending

which is why MOST people would have no problem getting out of debt as soon as possible. Unfortunately, with government agencies, it’s just the opposite. They rant and rave about how they need ‘more credit’, yet refuse to actually cut spending. Why? Well, it’s ok, of course, to rant and rave, but when you actually have to DO something, that’s an entirely different thing. Let’s take a look at some numbers here:
Let’s start by looking at the actual PAY these individuals receive:
Congress and senate (in 2011) make a base salary of 170k/year.
Congressional members – 435
Senate members – 100
Yearly Congressional Salary – 75,690,000
Yearly Senate Salary – 17400000
Yearly Presidential Salary – 400,000 (raised by 50,000 in 2001)
Vice presidential Sallary – 230,700
Total paid out every year for ‘public servants‘? 93,720,700

The ‘median income’ in D.C. ? $59,000 . So, you could easily cut these salaries in half, send the rest to take care of the debt, and STILL come out ahead, while cutting the national debt down $46,860,350 EVERY YEAR!

More fun with numbers, from the Pig Book . These #’s are actual #’s paid to individuals to do something unnecessary (hence, ‘pork’) to our survival as a nation. In 2010 alone, $16.5 billion in pork funding was handed out, and that’s just what’s identified by this book. Seriously, there’s a problem

$6,056,565,000 for 35 anonymous projects (military), including $495,000,000 for nine additional F/A-18E/F Hornets aircraft, $300,000,000 for the Medical Transportation Institute.$2,500,000,000 for the procurement of ten C–17 aircraft.$465,000,000 for continued development and initial procurement of the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter.$198,150,000 for 37 projects by Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)$181,200,000 for 50 projects by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)

On and on and on we could go here, but you get the idea. The U.S. government doesn’t need a bigger ‘credit card’, what they need to do is cut spending, eliminate pork, cut their own salaries, and start living in the real world. The rich don’t need to be taxed more, the poor don’t need to be taxed more. As a country we need to get out there and demand that our elected officials start SPENDING appropriately! If not, well, this is exactly what will happen.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. If I ran my business as poorly as these elected ‘officials’ ran this country, I would have been bankrupted and homeless dozens of times by now. This is UNEXCUSABLE, and it’s time to demand that officials take action.